How Are Angelic States Received by Infants and Children?
Key Concept: Angelic affections are communicated by knowledges known and thought about by the child (Arcana Coelestia 3665).
When man is being regenerated, he is at first led by the Lord as an infant, then as a child, afterwards as a youth, and at last as an adult. The truths he learns as an infant child are altogether external and corporeal, for as yet he is unable to apprehend interior truths. These truths are no other than knowledges of such things as contain in their inmost things Divine; for there are knowledges of things that do not contain anything Divine in their inmost; and there are knowledges that do contain it. The knowledges that do contain what is Divine are such that they can admit interior truths more and more, successively, and in order; whereas the knowledges which do not contain what is Divine are such that they do not admit, but reject these interior truths…. Knowledges which contain in their inmost what is Divine, admit into them spiritual and celestial truth and good, possessing this capacity from the Divine which is within, and which disposes…. [5] With regard to these very knowledges of external or corporeal truth which are from collateral good, and which as before said contain in them what is Divine, and thus are capable of admitting genuine goods—such as are the knowledges with young children who are afterwards regenerated—they are in general such as are contained in the historical parts of the Word, such as what is said therein concerning paradise, concerning the first man in it, concerning the tree of life in its midst, and concerning the tree of knowledge, where was the serpent that practiced the deception. These are the knowledges that contain within them what is Divine, and admit into them spiritual and celestial goods and truths, because they represent and signify these goods and truths. Such knowledges also are all other things in the historical parts of the Word, as what is said concerning the tabernacle and the temple and concerning the construction of these; in like manner what is said concerning the garments of Aaron and of his sons; also concerning the feasts of tabernacles, of the firstfruits of harvest, of unleavened bread, and concerning other like things. When such knowledges as these are known and thought of by a young child, the angels who are with him think of the Divine things which they represent and signify; and because the angels are affected therewith, their affection is communicated, and causes the delight and pleasure which the child experiences therein; and prepares his mind to receive genuine truths and goods (Arcana Coelestia 3665:2,5).
Of the Lord's Divine mercy little children [who had died soon after their birth] have on several occasions been sent to me in choirs, and I have also been allowed to read to them the Lord's Prayer; and at the same time I have been given to perceive how the angels, in whose company they were, insinuated into their tender and novitiate ideas the meaning of the things contained in this Prayer, and filled them, so far as the little ones were able to receive; and afterwards how the ability was given to the little children to think similar things as of themselves (Arcana Coelestia 2290).
The nature of their tender understanding was also shown to me when I was praying the Lord's Prayer; and they then inflowed into the ideas of my thought from their own understanding, which was so tender that they received hardly anything beyond the sense of the words. Yet their ideas in that tenderness were capable of being opened even to the Lord, that is, even from the Lord. For the Lord flows into the ideas of little children more especially, from the inmost, for nothing has yet closed their ideas, as is the case with adults, no principles of falsity to hinder the understanding of truth, nor a life of evil to hinder the reception of good, and thus prevent their becoming wise (Arcana Coelestia 2291).
[Angelic spirits spoke] concerning little children on earth, saying that immediately after their birth, there are angels from the heaven of innocence with them; and in the succeeding age, angels from the heaven of the tranquility of peace; and afterwards angels from the societies of charity; and then other angels, in proportion as innocence and charity with the young children decrease; and at length, when they become older and enter into a life foreign to charity, angels are indeed present, but more remotely, and this in accordance with the ends of life, which the angels especially direct by continually insinuating good ends, and turning aside evil ones; and in proportion as they are able or unable to do this, their influx is nearer or more remote (Arcana Coelestia 2303).
That good is that which is first of all appropriated to a man from the Lord is evident from his infancy and early childhood; when, as is well known, he has the good of innocence and the good of love toward his parents and his nurse, and the good of charity toward his childish companions. This good flows in from the Lord into little children, so that it may serve in advancing age for the beginning of the Lord's life with man, and thus for a plane to receive truths (Arcana Coelestia 10110:4).
In the spiritual world all children are led by the Lord into angelic wisdom, and through that into heavenly love by means of delights and pleasures; first by means of beautiful things in their homes and pleasant things in gardens; then by means of representatives of spiritual things which affect the interiors of their minds with pleasure; and finally by means of truths of wisdom and so by goods of love. They are thus led continually by means of delights in due order; first by the delights of the love of the understanding and of its wisdom; and finally by the delights of the will's love, which becomes their life's love…(Divine Providence 136:6).
I have been told from heaven that little children are especially under the Lord's care, and that they receive influx from the inmost heaven, where there is a state of innocence; that this influx passes through their interiors, and that in its passing through, their interiors are affected solely by the innocence. It is because of this that innocence is shown in their faces and in some of their movements and becomes evident. Also, it is this innocence by which parents are inmostly affected, and that gives rise to the love that is called natural affection (storge) (Heaven and Hell 277:4).
How little children are taught in heaven will also be briefly told. From their nurses they learn to talk. Their earliest speech is simply a sound of affection; this by degrees becomes more distinct as ideas of thought enter; for ideas of thought from affections constitute all angelic speech ... . Into their affections, all of which proceed from innocence, such things as appear before their eyes and cause delight are first instilled; and as these things are from a spiritual origin the things of heaven at once flow into them, and by means of these heavenly things their interiors are opened, and they are thereby daily perfected (Heaven and Hell 334).
How Are Angelic States Received by Infants and Children?
Key Concept: Angelic affections are communicated by knowledges known and thought about by the child (Arcana Coelestia 3665).
When man is being regenerated, he is at first led by the Lord as an infant, then as a child, afterwards as a youth, and at last as an adult. The truths he learns as an infant child are altogether external and corporeal, for as yet he is unable to apprehend interior truths. These truths are no other than knowledges of such things as contain in their inmost things Divine; for there are knowledges of things that do not contain anything Divine in their inmost; and there are knowledges that do contain it. The knowledges that do contain what is Divine are such that they can admit interior truths more and more, successively, and in order; whereas the knowledges which do not contain what is Divine are such that they do not admit, but reject these interior truths…. Knowledges which contain in their inmost what is Divine, admit into them spiritual and celestial truth and good, possessing this capacity from the Divine which is within, and which disposes…. [5] With regard to these very knowledges of external or corporeal truth which are from collateral good, and which as before said contain in them what is Divine, and thus are capable of admitting genuine goods—such as are the knowledges with young children who are afterwards regenerated—they are in general such as are contained in the historical parts of the Word, such as what is said therein concerning paradise, concerning the first man in it, concerning the tree of life in its midst, and concerning the tree of knowledge, where was the serpent that practiced the deception. These are the knowledges that contain within them what is Divine, and admit into them spiritual and celestial goods and truths, because they represent and signify these goods and truths. Such knowledges also are all other things in the historical parts of the Word, as what is said concerning the tabernacle and the temple and concerning the construction of these; in like manner what is said concerning the garments of Aaron and of his sons; also concerning the feasts of tabernacles, of the firstfruits of harvest, of unleavened bread, and concerning other like things. When such knowledges as these are known and thought of by a young child, the angels who are with him think of the Divine things which they represent and signify; and because the angels are affected therewith, their affection is communicated, and causes the delight and pleasure which the child experiences therein; and prepares his mind to receive genuine truths and goods (Arcana Coelestia 3665:2,5).
Of the Lord's Divine mercy little children [who had died soon after their birth] have on several occasions been sent to me in choirs, and I have also been allowed to read to them the Lord's Prayer; and at the same time I have been given to perceive how the angels, in whose company they were, insinuated into their tender and novitiate ideas the meaning of the things contained in this Prayer, and filled them, so far as the little ones were able to receive; and afterwards how the ability was given to the little children to think similar things as of themselves (Arcana Coelestia 2290).
The nature of their tender understanding was also shown to me when I was praying the Lord's Prayer; and they then inflowed into the ideas of my thought from their own understanding, which was so tender that they received hardly anything beyond the sense of the words. Yet their ideas in that tenderness were capable of being opened even to the Lord, that is, even from the Lord. For the Lord flows into the ideas of little children more especially, from the inmost, for nothing has yet closed their ideas, as is the case with adults, no principles of falsity to hinder the understanding of truth, nor a life of evil to hinder the reception of good, and thus prevent their becoming wise (Arcana Coelestia 2291).
[Angelic spirits spoke] concerning little children on earth, saying that immediately after their birth, there are angels from the heaven of innocence with them; and in the succeeding age, angels from the heaven of the tranquility of peace; and afterwards angels from the societies of charity; and then other angels, in proportion as innocence and charity with the young children decrease; and at length, when they become older and enter into a life foreign to charity, angels are indeed present, but more remotely, and this in accordance with the ends of life, which the angels especially direct by continually insinuating good ends, and turning aside evil ones; and in proportion as they are able or unable to do this, their influx is nearer or more remote (Arcana Coelestia 2303).
That good is that which is first of all appropriated to a man from the Lord is evident from his infancy and early childhood; when, as is well known, he has the good of innocence and the good of love toward his parents and his nurse, and the good of charity toward his childish companions. This good flows in from the Lord into little children, so that it may serve in advancing age for the beginning of the Lord's life with man, and thus for a plane to receive truths (Arcana Coelestia 10110:4).
In the spiritual world all children are led by the Lord into angelic wisdom, and through that into heavenly love by means of delights and pleasures; first by means of beautiful things in their homes and pleasant things in gardens; then by means of representatives of spiritual things which affect the interiors of their minds with pleasure; and finally by means of truths of wisdom and so by goods of love. They are thus led continually by means of delights in due order; first by the delights of the love of the understanding and of its wisdom; and finally by the delights of the will's love, which becomes their life's love…(Divine Providence 136:6).
I have been told from heaven that little children are especially under the Lord's care, and that they receive influx from the inmost heaven, where there is a state of innocence; that this influx passes through their interiors, and that in its passing through, their interiors are affected solely by the innocence. It is because of this that innocence is shown in their faces and in some of their movements and becomes evident. Also, it is this innocence by which parents are inmostly affected, and that gives rise to the love that is called natural affection (storge) (Heaven and Hell 277:4).
How little children are taught in heaven will also be briefly told. From their nurses they learn to talk. Their earliest speech is simply a sound of affection; this by degrees becomes more distinct as ideas of thought enter; for ideas of thought from affections constitute all angelic speech ... . Into their affections, all of which proceed from innocence, such things as appear before their eyes and cause delight are first instilled; and as these things are from a spiritual origin the things of heaven at once flow into them, and by means of these heavenly things their interiors are opened, and they are thereby daily perfected (Heaven and Hell 334).
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